Eddie Bermude, center, and Julio Centeno, right, work for AAR Inc., a company hired to remove asbestos from most of the houses set to be demolished. The crew leader said many of the workers live in the Dove Springs neighborhood.

An empty lot is the first of many on Onion Crossing in the Dove Springs neighborhood of Austin. The homes are being demolished by the city after they were severely damaged by the floods in 2013.

Ilana Panich-Linsman/KUT

Last Halloween at least 580 homes in Austin were damaged by floods in the Onion Creek area, causing nearly $30 million in property damage. So far, the city has purchased 116 properties that were either damaged by flood waters or are in danger of future flooding.

By the end of the year, demolition contractors plan on knocking down 105 homes in the area. But what happens to all the leftover debris from those homes, and how long will the project take to complete?

Lino Castro has been in demolition for 17 years. He works for City of Austin sub-contractor AAR Incorporated, prepping homes to-be demolished homes by removing asbestos and pulling out windows before the big wreckers come in and finish the job.

""We specialize in asbestos abatement. We have to wrap everything really well in plastic. We cover doors and windows. We then hook up some machines inside the empty home to create negative pressure," Castro says in Spanish.

That negative pressure traps asbestos and other airborne contaminants within the house, ensuring they don't escape during the final leg of demolition. It's messy, but systemic. Carolyn Perez of the Public Works Department says a project of this size has to be.

"This involves removing about 56,000 square feet of asbestos-containing materials from the structure before they are demolished," Perez says. "The debris is hauled off by our contractor using trucks that can carry 10 cubic yards of debris. Some of the larger trucks are capable of hauling 20 cubic yards."

The city has demolished 41 homes — less than half of their planned goal to demolish 105 homes. So, if you're in the Onion Creek neighborhood, you'll see: demolition workers like Castro prepping homes, wreckers and backhoes knocking down what's left and trucks hauling the debris to the city landfill.

The process may continue after the end of the year once the city sorts out which homes will be added to the buy-out program.

Today, the city's holding its final open house about the ongoing recovery from the Halloween floods. City staff will answer questions on flood safety, home repairs and the buyout program at 5:30 p.m. at Perez Elementary.

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Update: Austin City Council member and mayoral candidate Mike Martinez is asking the city’s Public Safety Commission to consider recommending an independent review of city response to the deadly Halloween flooding.

A report done by city staff highlighted more than 100 response problems, including communication issues between agencies and with the general public. Read more about the findings in the original story below.

In emails to the commission, Martinez requests the group consider calling for an independent review. Martinez also finds fault with the framing of the city's report, writing "My general impression is that the failures and opportunities are large, and the successes are relatively small. Giving them equal weight with a tally of successes, opportunities, and failures seems to undermine the seriousness of any analysis."

The Public Safety Commission will also hear reports from Austin Fire, Police and EMS about the response to last October’s flooding.

Original story (April 15): In Austin, it’s almost certain a flood will hit in the future. What we don’t know is when.

It’s taken the City of Austin and Travis County almost six months to finalize a report detailing emergency response to the 2013 Halloween floods: what worked, what needs improvement and what – flat out – did not work.

The report repeatedly highlights communication problems: between agencies, then between first responders, then with the general public. There was no clear channel of communication. There was no awareness about the kind of people who lived in the affected area either: a majority-minority community that does not primarily communicate using English.

Public input meetings are places where ideas float around, and where friends with similar interests reconnect.

At a meeting this week at Dove Springs' Mendes Middle School, you could see neighbors sharing input on what they'd like to see happen at Onion Creek Park.

Susan Willard, president of the Onion Creek Parks Neighborhood Alliance said she wants "[a] picnic area and barbeque grills." She even remembers a place from her childhood called Davey Crockett National Forest that has platforms and rope swings. "They could do something like that back in there," Willard says. "That’d be really cool! You know? Something that fits with nature."